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CLOSE OF PLAY A really old-fashioned, and not especially exciting, day's cricket on a pitch offering very little for bowler or batsman. I think India will be slightly the happier, having lost the toss, but England won't be too distraught either. That they are still more or less neck and neck is due in large part to an unbeaten 60-run stand between debutant Joe Root and veteran keeper batsman Matt Prior. They've taken England to 199/5, and welcome runs they were too. Ian Bell failed again, chipping lamely to short extra, and KP and Trott both also threw it away after good starts. Ali Cook, for once, didn't get runs; he did get a shonky LBW, though. So yeah. 55-45 to India, I reckon. Join Jonathan Liew tomorrow morning at 3.30am UK time. Thanks for reading, have a great day. Cheers.

<noframe>Twitter: Sky Sports Cricket - Atherton: Pitches are not easy to read here. Sure it looked dry and cracked but no one expected how little bounce there was this morning.</noframe>

<noframe>Twitter: Sean Held - A grind. Root selection superb. Patel and Bairstow would've given it away on this slow pudding. Interesting test match.</noframe>

OVER 97: ENG 199/5 (Root 31* Prior 34*) A single to each of these batsmen, who have done a really good job for their side in tricky and somewhat unusual circumstances. Ishant finishes the over with a good yorker but Prior is equal to it and that is stumps.

<noframe>Twitter: Owen Gibson - Sky have signed new 8 year deal with West Indies cricket to cover next four England tours. Closing off options for BT to get into cricket.</noframe>

OVER 96: ENG 197/5 (Root 30* Prior 33*) Jadeja is back on for a last blast. He's had a good day on debut, the big prize of KP as well as the wicket of Trott. He has got a silly point in - a rare attacking field placing from Dhoni today. There's just one off the over. Ishant to bowl the next over, so that will be the final one of the day. There have been 480 dot balls today!

OVER 95: ENG 196/5 (Root 29* Prior 33*) Absolute nothing over from Ishant. One ball dies especially tamely on Dhoni, dealing him a blow on the wrist and running for a bye. Apparently, Paul Collingwood is sticking to his prediction of a three-day finish. With England winning. Well, why not?

OVER 94: ENG 195/5 (Root 29* Prior 33*) Ojha continues. A rare and welcome boundary, to Prior, via a cut. A delay as Dhoni receives a bit of physio treatment on his neck. Talking of injuries, Broady is flying home. Been a tough tour for the Notts man, let's hope he recovers from his heel niggle soon. Finn is also on the plane back to Blighty, a back problem doing for him. More on those two here.

Sky Sports' graphic tells a tale of a slow day's cricket

OVER 93: ENG 191/5 (Root 29* Prior 29*) A belated new ball spell for sole seamer Ishant Sharma. Single to Prior. Pretty insipid fare from Ishant in the main, save for the fifth ball, which is right in the channel and has the Rooter a-nibblin'.

OVER 92: ENG 190/5 (Root 29* Prior 28*) One down the ground for Matt Prior. Root has got the head down, as befits a Yorkshireman, and he sees out the rest of Ojha's over.

OVER 91: ENG 189/5 (Root 29* Prior 27*) Prior works it off his pads for a single and that is the fiddy partnership. Very welcome it has been too, from an England POV.

John Batty writes: "England doing their level best to make a game of it for the hosts, but where are the fans? If wickets weren’t falling though, I’d be asleep. Indian support seems to have capitulated an the same style as their batting order."

OVER 90: ENG 188/5 (Root 29* Prior 26*) We've had our 90 overs in the day, and India slightly giving off the impression that they would be happy to call it quits. We have yet to see Ishant with the new ball, not really sure why he hasn't come back for a burst. Couple of singles off Ojha.

Marc Melander: "Note the young Root's mastery of the Dilshan scoop and, omen of future, Indian (smaller ears) elephant ornament at silly mid on (table)."

OVER 89: ENG 186/5 (Root 28* Prior 25*) Jadeja returns to the fray with a maiden, his 13th of the innings so far.

OVER 88: ENG 186/5 (Root 28* Prior 25*) India do decide to take the new ball. I cannot honestly say it has made a vast amount of difference on that evidence. Single to Matt Prior off Ojha.

OVER 87: ENG 185/5 (Root 28* Prior 24*) Prior drives square and that's good work from Ojha to cut it off and keep England down to three. Couple of singles from Ashwin.

OVER 86: ENG 180/5 (Root 27* Prior 20*) Filthy short one from Ojha but Rooty can only spank that to a fielder in the deep for one. One to Prior, too. Four byes.

OVER 85: ENG 174/5 (Root 26* Prior 19*) Good to see from Root. A well executed, well controlled reverse sweep. Tickles a ball off his pads for another and England tick along. This partnership worth a most welcome 35 so far.

Arup says: "Let India take their time over drinks. Oh let them, pleaahsse. What do you expect from these relics in body and mind."

OVER 84: ENG 171/5 (Root 23* Prior 19*) Width from Ojha and that's a pleasing shot from Prior, stroked away for a nice boundary through the covers.

OVER 83: ENG 167/5 (Root 23* Prior 15*) Eventually India decide that they might as well do a bit of cricket and boy is it worth waiting for. England plunder a single off Ashwin and it's all jolly exciting stuff. My concern for England is that Sehwag comes in and just goes bananas for 90 minutes, caring not for the deck or the pace or anything else, as is his wont, and he wipes out half of England's score in a session. Anyhow. That's for later.

DRINKS Slow old work from England. Just 166/5 after 82 overs, with 30 maidens in it. The Indian team are all sitting around on the floor, a bit like they are having a picnic. It's quite sweet. Taking an AGE mind you.

<noframe>Twitter: David 'Bumble' Lloyd - Get on with the game !!!!!!</noframe>

Manish K writes: "This is the worst Indian spin attack I have seen in my 20 years of cricket viewing. Imagine Chawla is playing a Test match! He surely makes Imran Tahir look like Warney."

OVER 82: ENG 166/5 (Root 23* Prior 14*) Ojha-Root-maiden-drinks. We have had 30 maidens in those 82.

OVER 81: ENG 166/5 (Root 23* Prior 14*) The new ball is due, but shunned by India. Ashers bowls to Prior with a slip and a leg slip. One off the over.

OVER 81: ENG 166/5 (Root 23* Prior 14*) The new ball is due, but shunned by India. Ashers bowls to Prior with a slip and a leg slip. One off the over.

OVER 80: ENG 165/5 (Root 22* Prior 14*) Long delay before the start of this over, long chat between the Indian players. Not too sure why. Perhaps just chatting about what they will have to drink in the drinks break that is coming up in six minutes. Just a single to Root.

Ian Winterburn writes: "I got my first season ticket for Yorkshire last year and during the matches saw Root develop dramatically. An top rate batsman and great fielder. Many an alcohol soaked Sunday afternoon was spent at Headingley. I hope (touch wood) that Joe manages to get a great score, he deserves the chance and should really take over from Bell. England's gain would be Yorkshire's loss. Great over by over!!!!" Thanks very much, great to hear from a Yorkie fan. Any other County regulars on? Who is a youngster to watch at yours?

OVER 79: ENG 164/5 (Root 21* Prior 14*) It's Ashwin back on for a spell. Prior playing a couple of shots in this over, but not getting full value. A single, and then a slappy, wristy drive straight to extra cover. Couple of singles.

Andrew Holgate: "Surely England can sell Ian Bell to QPR or Chelsea in January? Also, is it safe to say that in 20 years time we will be watching Root on Strictly Come Dancing, following in the footsteps of the other great Yorkshire and England cricketers Vaughan and Gough?"

OVER 78: ENG 162/5 (Root 20* Prior 13*) Ojha in for Jadeja in a leftie for leftie swop. Root drives into the covers, Good wheels from Kohli in the deep to keep that to two.

OVER 77: ENG 160/5 (Root 18* Prior 13*) Single to Prior and then a couple to Root behind point. Now a textbook straight defensive shot from him. A solid customer, young Joe. No threat from Ishant in that over.

<noframe>Twitter: Daniel Brigham - Dropping Samit was harsh but he would've batted under considerable pressure. At least Root can bat with little to lose &amp; less pressure.</noframe>

OVER 76: ENG 156/5 (Root 15* Prior 12*) Third maiden on the spin. This pitch really is not one for exciting cricket, on the evidence so far. But to be fair to England, they have done their level best to make it exciting with those donated wickets.

Arup says: "Whatever England make, hosts India will fall short by a good 75 runs. Good hosts you know. After all throughout the break between Kolkata and Nagpur we’ve been treated to lots of dirty linen being washed in public."

OVER 75: ENG 156/5 (Root 15* Prior 12*) Ishant, the sole seamer in this veritable battery of okay-ish tweakers, returns for a spell. He removed both England openers earlier, the first time in 2012 that he has taken more than one in an innings. The ball flubbles apologetically to Prior for a lifeless maiden.

OVER 74: ENG 156/5 (Root 15* Prior 12*) Root keeps Jadeja out for a maiden over but does not look too confident.

OVER 73: ENG 156/5 (Root 15* Prior 12*) Width from Chawla and that is an attractive off-side stroke from Prior for a boundary. Matthew is looking in nice touch so far.

OVER 72: ENG 152/5 (Root 15* Prior 8*) After a single to each bat, Jadeja has two for 32 off 20 overs. What a good job he has done for his skipper on debut. You might question how well England have played him, but that's hardly his problem.

Lanky writes: "Lanky here from a terribly cold -minus nine - den this morning. Interesting team selections today and good to see England have found their form again after two dismal victories. What chance India playing for a draw?"

OVER 71: ENG 150/5 (Root 14* Prior 7*) Prior tucks the ball off his pads for one, Root plays a similar shot for three and the 150 is up.

Arup writes: "Attention Ladies: “. . . over to Alan Tyers, who's going to hold your hand and lead you to stumps”, says Jonathan Liew. Not a very romantic thought when stumps is all Alan can lead you to." Lead you to drink, maybe.

Here's Pietersen celebrating his fifty, in happier times

OVER 70: ENG 146/5 (Root 11* Prior 6*) Jadeja continues and there is but one run from the over. What do England need to make here? 250 at the bare minimum. Really they ought to have been thinking 350, but that seems unlikely now.

OVER 69: ENG 145/5 (Root 11* Prior 5*) Prior cuts for a couple, and then Root leaves a straight one from Chawla that whistles past his off stump. Good judgement.

OVER 68: ENG 142/5 (Root 11* Prior 3*) Well England have managed to make this far more exciting than it need have been. Bell, Trott and now KP all handing their wickets over tamely. Prior has a job on here. He's off the mark right away with a two off the edge.

WICKET! Pietersen c Ojha b Jadeja 73 Ooh, that is huge. That is a big moment. Bit of a nothing shot, KP half comes down the pitch, whips it through the legside but without the conviction we often see from him in that area. He flips a catch to midwicket and Ojha snaffles a good low catch. Some debate as to whether he caught it, but that looks a good 'un to me. FOW 141/5 That's England's third soft dismissal of the day and they have contrived to throw this series right back in the balance.

OVER 67: ENG 139/4 (Pietersen 73* Root 11*) Piyush Chawla comes on from the other end and there's a single to each batsman.

OVER 66: ENG 137/4 (Pietersen 72* Root 10*) Expansive drive from KP gives him four through point. But now a good LBW shout: KP on the move and coming forward, and I think all in all that probably hit him just outside the line.

09.00 Nah, can't fix the computer. It won't make sound. If anyone says anything wonderfully illuminating on the TV commentary, you'll be the last to know. Well, not the last to know. You just won't know. Still, given that Knighty will be on for at least 20% of the time, we're at least playing the odds to some degree. Anyhooo. Here come the players - and here comes Jadeja to Pietersen...

TEA Not the most impressive session England have put together on this tour. They scored 72 runs for the loss of Trott (looking a bit foolish leaving a straight one) and Bell (looking a lot foolish spooning a wide one to extra cover). KP, though, has played a good solid hand, and really this pitch is not hard to stay in on, all things considered. It is hard to score quickly, though: even mighty Kevin is getting his runs at a strike rate of 38. England cannot afford to lose more than one wicket in this evening session, or this will have been India's day. I just need to do a bit of percussive maintenance on this computer and then I'll talk you through the evening sesh.

Here's Trott in happier, pre-leaving-a-straight-ball times

OVER 65: ENG 133/4 (Pietersen 68* Root 10*) Blimey, steady on. Or rather "hurry up". Pietersen sweeps and they turn for two - Root is struggling here. The throw is not brilliant, and Chawla has to gather it a yard or two from the wicket before underarming it onto the stumps. He's safe, but a better throw would have been curtains. Some nervy running from England today. A further single off the Chawla over and that is tea.

OVER 64: ENG 130/4 (Pietersen 65* Root 10*) And the Rooter now has his first boundary in Test cricket, a four off Ojha square of the wicket, and a two off the hips to boot. Remember the Battle Of Root's Boot in Tales From A Long Room?

OVER 63: ENG 124/4 (Pietersen 65* Root 4*) Joe Root is on his way! Good lad. Calm, firm drive out into the covers brings him three. A couple of singles in the over, making it a positive flurry of runs.

Marc Melander writes: "Bell: all gong and no dinner. I'm liking 'The Warwickshire Liability' for the gormless Bell. It sounds like a Robert Ludlum epic only in Bell's case it would be a damp pamphlet with all the appeal of a piece of Jehovah's Witness literature."

OVER 62: ENG 119/4 (Pietersen 64* Root 0*) Pragyan Ojha is on for a new spell. Nervy for KP when an arm ball nearly rattles through his gate, but an inside edge saves the day. That's a maiden.

OVER 61: ENG 119/4 (Pietersen 64* Root 0*) Pretty poor shot from Bell, which is what we have come to expect from him in Asia. Anyhow, let's not dwell on the past. Here comes the future. And its name is Joe Root. Here, beautifully hand spun from the finest gossamer stats by the fair hand of Jonathan Liew, is a table detailing the debut fates of Yorkshire batsmen since 1970. Earlier in the over, KP had taken two on a misfield and had a moment of alarm when Ashwin produced a good throw at point. TV umpire was called for, but he always looked okay.

WICKET! Bell c Kohli b Chawla 1Dhoni shuffles his pack of twirlymen and produces Chawla for a new spell. And it pays off right away! Thanks, in large part, to Ian Bell. The Warwickshire liability has produced another innings to forget on the subcontinent, chipping a full, wide ball tamely to short extra cover for one. FOW 119/4

Yorkshire batsmen on England Test debut since 1970

Year

Opponent

Scores

Jonny Bairstow

2012

West Indies

16 & 0*

Anthony McGrath

2003

Zimbabwe

69

Michael Vaughan

1999-2000

South Africa

33 & 5

Richard Blakey

1992-93

India

0 & 6

Martyn Moxon

1986

New Zealand

74 & 5

Bill Athey

1980

Australia

9 & 1

David Bairstow

1979

India

9 & 59

OVER 60: ENG 116/3 (Pietersen 61* Bell 1*) Jadeja bowls a maiden.

08.20 What ho, Jonathan. What ho, readers. Well this is good old fashioned cricket, isn't it? Splendid. If you want entertainment, go and watch Suresh Raina slapping it around in T20. What's that, Indian fans? You already are. Well done everybody.

OVER 59: ENG 116/3 Pietersen 61* Bell 1* Pietersen's on 14,998 first-class runs. I know this because there's a graphic on the screen that says so. He's been on 14,998 first-class runs for the last 15 minutes. Two short mid-wickets in for Pietersen as Sharma runs in again. It's a maiden over, and I'm going to hand you over to Alan Tyers, who's going to hold your hand and lead you to stumps.

Marc Melander writes of gunpowder, treason and plot. Actually, not gunpowder or treason, or really plot.

In the excellent Swarbrick illustration of Compton's demise it is clear that the cunning Indians are cheating on several levels :

1) The bowler is no more than 6' away from the batsman therefore surely a no-ball. However, the crease markings have been erased, thus fooling the umpire.

2) The bowler has despatched not just one but three balls in order to utterly bamboozle brave English Tommy.

Simply not cricket.

OVER 58: ENG 116/3 Pietersen 61* Bell 1* Bell finally gets something resembling a run. Not actually a run, but four leg byes, past Dhoni and all the way to the rope. Still, that'll settle him in. Nothing like feeling ball on, well, edge of pad.

OVER 57: ENG 112/3 Pietersen 61* Bell 1* Sharma's pace is right down from where it was earlier this morning, turning his nifty in-swingers into niggardly off-cutters. You can tell Pietersen wants to give it some welly. But every time he spots some width, the ball comes stubbornly darting back into him, like Steve Barwick on a cloudy Sunday afternoon at Sophia Gardens. Not that Pietersen will ever have faced Steve Barwick. You suspect if he had, he'd have wanted to give him some welly.

OVER 56: ENG 112/3 Pietersen 61* Bell 1* Another maiden to Bell, but he is at least trying to score. He backs away and tries to cut Jadeja, but ends up bottom-edging it into the crowd. Plus points for trying. Minus points for failing. Back comes Sharma for a little four-over burst before tea.

OVER 55: ENG 112/3 Pietersen 61* Bell 1* Holy Mahendra Singh Dhoni, that's a heck of a good shot by Pietersen. Just a little width from Ojha, on a decent length, and Pietersen can get under the ball and smash it over cover for four. Nobody out there, so it's a fairly safe shot, especially when you've got an eye like Pietersen's.

<noframe>Twitter: Ian Botham - Big mistake from Trott .... Oh dear what away to get out on this pitch !!</noframe>

OVER 54: ENG 108/3 Pietersen 57* Bell 1* Another maiden, from Jadeja to Bell, rattled through in double-quick time. I wonder if India are making a concerted effort to get through their overs quickly, in order to give them as much time as possible to force the win. The light's not as much of an issue as it was at Eden Gardens, so we should get more than 90 overs in today.

OVER 53: ENG 108/3 Pietersen 57* Bell 1* Big appeal for LBW against Pietersen, but he was well down the track, and the ball hit him outside the line of off stump. Bit of a silly appeal, that. India have done a lot of silly appealing today. A maiden over.

OVER 52: ENG 108/3 Pietersen 57* Bell 1* Bell pushes the ball to mid-on and hares down to the other end for the single he needs to get off the mark. Pietersen does the same, and a direct hit from Kohli might have had Bell in trouble there. Two off the over.

OVER 51: ENG 106/3 Pietersen 56* Bell 0* Now, that's a shot. It wasn't a bad ball from Ojha, but Pietersen made it into a bad ball by taking a couple of steps down the track and flicking it powerfully - such power in those wrists! - through the narrow gap at mid-wicket for four runs.

OVER 50: ENG 102/3 Pietersen 52* Bell 0* Bell defends his first two. Well, that's rather coloured the complexion of this game. The thought of Joe Root shaking like a leaf on the England balcony should give you some idea of how important this partnership is.

WICKET! Trott b Jadeja 44 (133) ENG 102/3 Good Lord, Jonathan Trott, that's awful. Trott leaves a ball that goes on with the arm, oblivious to the fact that pretty much everything Jadeja bowls goes on with the arm. There's a clatter of ash as the ball clips the top of off-stump, and a partnership that looked utterly embedded has now been curtailed in extraordinarily soft circumstances. Jadeja has his first Test wicket, and Ian Bell is the new batsman.

DRINKS

OVER 49: ENG 101/2 Trott 44* Pietersen 51* Trott brings up England's 100 with a powerful sweep over backward square leg for four! A little fillip for England, and the crowd, as drinks are wheeled onto the field. Halfway through the day, and I'd say England are on top. Forty runs in the hour.

OVER 48: ENG 97/2 Trott 40* Pietersen 51* Another maiden from Ramadhin to Cowdrey. Cowdrey scratches his bottom. You may have to scroll down to Over 30 before any of that makes sense to you, and maybe not even then.

<noframe>Twitter: Derek Pringle - watchful fifty from KP, England have what they hold and seem determined to bat once on this cracked pitch</noframe>

OVER 47: ENG 97/2 Trott 40* Pietersen 51* Another maiden from Ojha to Trott. Pride before a fall and all that, but I can't see India's spinners taking a wicket at the moment.

<noframe>Twitter: Nick Hoult - Ishant down to 81mph as he fades quickly after lunch. one illustrious scribe has called it 3-1 already</noframe>

OVER 46: ENG 97/2 Trott 40* Pietersen 51* Jadeja returns, and Pietersen reverts to his strategy of keeping leg-side of the ball and trying to play it through the covers. It's a maiden over, but nothing to trouble Pietersen overly. Not to be mean, but I'd put money on Jadeja getting a Test run before he gets a Test wicket.

OVER 45: ENG 97/2 Trott 40* Pietersen 51* Ojha bowls Trott a maiden. "Heard people calling this pitch terrible," writes Manish K. "Really don't understand this. All the three pitches in this series so far were absolutely fine. Yes, this pitch doesn't have the bounce of Mumbai but it's still a good one. You call a pitch terrible when Steyn looks like Ishant Sharma and Michael Clarke scores a double in two sessions."

OVER 44: ENG 97/2 Trott 40* Pietersen 51*Four runs tickled very fine past Dhoni, and that's a very, very good half-century by Kevin Pietersen. Dhoni brought Jadeja into the attack early to try and spook him, but he's looked pretty comfortable so far. He's been good in attack, good in defence, and the pressure of those two early wickets really looked to have focused his mind.

Neil in Wuhan's back:

Do the Indians care about this? The Eng–Pak tests were empty in Dubai (though for slightly different reasons); I've seen empty grounds in Sri Lanka. Is cricket becoming a TV sport?

OVER 43: ENG 91/2 Trott 39* Pietersen 46* Ojha's back. The folly of picking four spinners and only one seamer is only now becoming apparent. Sharma's really the only bowler so far who's looked like taking a wicket. I wouldn't be surprised if we see some of Kohli's filth-seamers at some stage. Pietersen drives, gets a thick edge down to third man, Trott wants to come back for the third, and it's a direct hit! We're going to go upstairs, but Trott doesn't look too perturbed. And so it proves. He was home by a good three feet.

OVER 42: ENG 88/2 Trott 39* Pietersen 43* Ashwin slings some rubbish down the leg side, Trott flicks and misses, and Dhoni goes up half-heartedly for the catch. Ashwin isn't interested at first, and then joins in overenthusiastically like the guest who turns up late at a party, makes a beeline for the punch bowl, and downs the lot. But then Ashwin bowls another four-ball, full and wide, and Trott slashes it for all four of them.

OVER 41: ENG 84/2 Trott 35* Pietersen 43* Driven by Pietersen, beautifully driven! Four runs! Plenty of gaps in the off-side field for anyone who wants to play against the swing, and Pietersen fully committed to that, playing it on the up, not worrying too much about keeping it down.

<noframe>Twitter: Paul Collingwood - What a privilege it was to present <a href="http://www.twitter.com/joeroot05" target="_blank">@joeroot05</a> his test cap this morning, it's something he'll pride for the rest of his life <a href="http://search.twitter.com/search?q=IndvdEng" target="_blank">#IndvdEng</a></noframe>

OVER 40: ENG 80/2 Trott 35* Pietersen 39* Silly mid-on comes in for Ashwin now. That and slip are the only two close catchers left. Pietersen flicks a single off his pads. Trott tries to repeat the shot, but finds fielders both times. One off the over.

OVER 39: ENG 79/2 Trott 35* Pietersen 38* Sharma bangs it in awfully short again - about as short as you can bowl it without risking a toe injury - and again it barely reaches Pietersen's ribcage. Pietersen remembers not to duck, and turns it around the corner for one. And then Trott almost chops on! It was another short one, and that was a loose shot from Trott, trying to force it through the off-side with a crooked bat. Now, was that a drop? Not quite. Trott flicks, doesn't quite middle it, and the ball balloons over Pujara at short mid-wicket, who leaps to his fullest extension and maybe just got a fingernail on it. Another single off Pietersen's inside edge to finish the over.

OVER 38: ENG 76/2 Trott 34* Pietersen 36* Full and wide from Ashwin, and that's filth by any other name. Trott rolls the wrists on it and gets four of the easiest runs he'll ever score. This partnership's now worth 60 off 165 balls, and it's been vital.

OVER 37: ENG 72/2 Trott 30* Pietersen 36* Short from Sharma, and Trott ducks, before realising the ball's headed straight for his gloves. He eventually recovers well, bunting the ball down to third man for a single. Neil emails in from Wuhan. "Teaching A-level business studies on a very rainy, very un-cricket-like Chinese winter’s day," he writes. "Was just wondering why, realisation of Tendulkar not being a god apart, why can't the Indians fill their grounds? Cricket mad? More than a billion people?" I'd say it's an entire generation of cricket fans who have grown up watching the game on television. Plus the fiasco over day tickets, plus the fact that the ground's not really in the part of town where people are.

OVER 36: ENG 70/2 Trott 29* Pietersen 36* Ashwin's strategy is to bowl it flat, quick and straight, with the floater outside off-stump as a variation. Trott's tempted into the drive, but finds Ojha at short cover.

<noframe>Twitter: Paul Collingwood - My prediction is this game could be over late on day 3, the pitch is like a dried up river bed <a href="http://search.twitter.com/search?q=IndvdEng" target="_blank">#IndvdEng</a> <a href="http://search.twitter.com/search?q=3" target="_blank">#3</a>-1</noframe>

OVER 35: ENG 70/2 Trott 29* Pietersen 36* More late swing from Sharma, and Pietersen only just gets the bat down in time! The ball goes flying off the inside edge for two runs, but the fact that Sharma's been reversing the ball since it was about 10 overs old should have Anderson and Bresnan foaming at the mouth. Dhoni moves Kohli to silly mid-on, right in Pietersen's eyeline, looking for the uppish flick or perhaps the leading edge. That's too straight from Sharma, though, and Pietersen can glide it delightfully through the mid-wicket gap for four. Pietersen nudges a single into the leg-side, Trott angles another down to third man, and Sharma's first over after lunch costs eight.

OVER 34: ENG 62/2 Trott 28* Pietersen 29* Pietersen defends that over diligently, his bat well in front of his pad. The last ball is flicked behind square on the leg side for a run. As with the third Test, the print-artist-genius-man Richard Swarbrick will be illustrating our coverage in the newspaper and online. You should be able to see his depiction of Nick Compton's dismissal at the top of the page. Meanwhile, here's Alastair Cook getting a medium-sized shocker from Kumar Dharmasena.

06.40 Trott and Pietersen amble down the steps to resume the England innings. Dhoni's got the helmet on, which means it's going to be one of India's four spinners (not counting Sachin or Viru) to resume. It's Ashwin. Pietersen on strike. This session will tell us a good deal.

06.37 Manish K takes the opportunity to set the record straight on Sachin: "He doesn't enjoy the God-like status that foreign media tends to believe. Unlike previous decades, younger cricket fans are realistic and know that cricket is just a game and Sachin is human. This empty Nagpur stadium doesn't tell you much?"

06.35 Here's a little table I prepared before play started, in anticipation of Cook going on to another score of several hundred. He only made 1, but I'll be darned if any research of mine is going to waste when I do so very little of it. A decent score in the second innings would see Cook threatening the England record for most runs in a four-match series. It's a pretty meaningless record, given that four-match series are Test cricket's buck-toothed step-child. (In case you're wondering, six-match series are the tortured maths genius, five-match series the good-looking straight-A student, three-match series the brooding emo teenager, and two-match series the drooling goblin child that you keep chained in the basement and feed on newts.

Runs

Series

Year

Patsy Hendren

693

West Indies v England

1929/30

Michael Vaughan

615

England v India

2002

Andy Sandham

592

West Indies v England

1929/30

Alastair Cook

549*

India v England

2012/13

Kevin Pietersen

533

England v India

2011

06.12 Arun replies to Manish K's email a few minutes ago:

If Chawla with the ball was averaging the same as Sachin Tendulkar with his bat over the last 18 months, he would be doing pretty well for himself!

Isn't there, like, some rule in India about making fun of Sachin?

06.10 It's Sharma who's been doing all the damage. The bounce has been treacherously uneven, and the ball's been reverse swinging like a banana. There doesn't look to be a huge amount of turn out there, and even if it starts to turn, there's nowhere near enough pace or bounce to threaten. So here's my question. What on earth was the point of India playing four spinners? I'll leave you to ponder that one, as well as watch this Nagpur masterclass from Dale Steyn a couple of years back. I'm telling you, it's a fast bowler's track...

LUNCH

OVER 33: ENG 61/2 Trott 28* Pietersen 28* Pietersen almost done by the grubber! That kept quite stunningly low from Sharma, and let me remind you that this is an 85mph bowler bowling on a first-morning Test pitch. The next one keeps low too, and he stabs it into the covers for a single. Pietersen then ducks a bouncer, an act of immense physical bravery in itself, and England reach lunch approaching parity.

OVER 32: ENG 60/2 Trott 28* Pietersen 27* Ashwin bowls six balls in good time with few alarms. "Dhoni takes some awful, logic-defying decisions," writes Manish K. "Playing four spinners is one of them. Chawla's bowling average this season matches up with Sachin's batting average.Useless leg spinner. Jadeja's selection looks OK for now. He has done well this season.One thing is for sure, he is extremely fit and a superb fielder. Given our fitness level, he is a good addition!" Chawla's stats in the Ranji Trophy this season: 10 wickets at 54. Anything Ian Salisbury can do...

OVER 31: ENG 60/2 Trott 28* Pietersen 27* Sharma returns, and almost cleans up Pietersen with his second ball! Big inside edge into his back pad. Sharma's already getting the ball to reverse. Sharma then serves up a ball on leg stump, and Pietersen almost hits that too well. Flicked straight to Kohli at mid-wicket, on the bounce.

OVER 30: ENG 60/2 Trott 28* Pietersen 27* Finally, like the last kid to be picked during games, Ashwin gets a bowl. His first couple of deliveries are a little flatter and quicker. Bit keen. Trott paddles away the second for a single. But the rest of the over's bowled at an easier pace. Pietersen reaches outside off-stump and flicks a single down to long-on, and then Trott sweeps off the stumps, a little dangerously, around the corner for two. India have really been rattling through their overs so far - 16 since drinks alone, with probably another three to come. It's just like old times. Imagine what a nightmare it would have been live-blogging cricket in the olden days, with their over rates.

OVER 246: ENG 502/3 May 254* Cowdrey 150* Yep, another maiden from Ramadhin. OVER 247: ENG 502/3 May 254* Cowdrey 150* Yep, another maiden from Sobers. OVER 248: ENG 502/3 May 254* Cowdrey 150* Yep, another maiden from Ramadhin. Cowdrey touched his nose at one point.

OVER 29: ENG 56/2 Trott 25* Pietersen 26* Trott drives, and gets it through this time. Three runs through cover. Chawla seems to have switched his line from middle and leg to outside off stump. The snake in the basket is that Chawla possesses a pretty good, pretty well-disguised googly. I don't think we've seen it yet, but it's there.

OVER 28: ENG 53/2 Trott 22* Pietersen 26* Pietersen stays leg-side of the ball and tries to flick the ball through the covers with the spin, but Dhoni's stocked his field extensively in that area, and another maiden results.

OVER 27: ENG 53/2 Trott 22* Pietersen 26* Better over from Chawla after getting beasted in the previous one. He maintains a steady leg-stump line to Trott, with the odd one hung outside off as a tempter. A maiden.

Arup Saikia emails in from Mumbai. If you are emailing in, you don't have to say where you are - cyberspace is a terrifying village in its own right - but it is nice to know.

Four spinners? Nope. Only one actually – Ojha. The others are either batsmen who spin sometimes or bat more than they spin. None of the four can field.

OVER 26: ENG 53/2 Trott 22* Pietersen 26* Pietersen cuts for four! He's decided to step up a gear here, and a poor short delivery from Jadeja was the perfect ball to collar. That brings up England's fifty, off 151 balls, and Pietersen can't score off any of the rest. Now, what's a good score here? This is only the fourth Test at this ground, and the three previous first innings scores have been 441 (India v Australia), 558/6 declared (South Africa) and most recently 193 (New Zealand). What does that tell us? Not a lot, except that New Zealand aren't very good.

OVER 25: ENG 49/2 Trott 22* Pietersen 22* Pietersen decides Chawla has to go, and Chawla goes! Down the pitch, punched over long-on, struck beautifully, and four all the way. Two balls later, a little flatter, but Pietersen just sets himself and clubs the ball over the infield again. Four more! Chawla drops the last one shorter, and Pietersen cuts powerfully out to the off-side sweeper for a single.

OVER 24: ENG 40/2 Trott 22* Pietersen 13* Finally Pietersen manages to puncture the infield, shoving Jadeja through cover for three runs with plenty of wrist. Half an hour to lunch. If England can get there unscathed, they might just about be able to call it a shared session.

OVER 23: ENG 37/2 Trott 22* Pietersen 10* Pietersen comes a long way down the pitch - into no-going-back territory - and drives Chawla powerfully through mid-off. Long-off is back on the fence, which even to Pietersen just strikes me as fundamentally wrong on so many levels. I mean, it's the first morning of a Test match. And surely you want Pietersen to take on the lofted drive this early in his innings? One off the over.

OVER 22: ENG 36/2 Trott 22* Pietersen 9* Ojha gets a rest and Jadeja gets a change of ends. So not only is Ashwin behind Jadeja in the queue, he's also behind Jadeja's second spell. Trott plays out a maiden.

OVER 21: ENG 36/2 Trott 22* Pietersen 9* Speaking of leg spin, here's Piyush Chawla for his first bowl of the morning. How must Ravi Ashwin be feeling? He started this series as a new ball bowler, and ended up as fourth choice. Some excellent drift early on from Chawla, and some turn out there for him too. Trott turns a single off his pads. Pietersen tries to drive down the ground, but can't beat the infield.

OVER 20: ENG 35/2 Trott 21* Pietersen 9* Pietersen blocks out another maiden. John Herron from Mexico emails on the subject of Hashim Amla. "I know that he dominated the last Test versus Australia," he writes. "But apart from the run out, how did the Aussies get him early when he was immovable in England throughout the summer? What did they know that England didn't?" Well, given Amla averaged 63 with two centuries in three Tests, it wasn't exactly an unmitigated failure for him. His two real failures were in Adelaide, when he fell to spin both times. In the second innings he simply edged a straight one from Nathan Lyon to slip. In the first innings, though - and this was pretty funny - he came shuffling down the pitch to the part-time leg-spin of David Warner and ended up getting stumped.

OVER 19: ENG 35/2 Trott 21* Pietersen 9* Jadeja beats Trott outside off stump with the first one he's spun all morning. Trott played for no spin, there was a little, and there are oohs from Dhoni and Sehwag behind the stumps. Best over Jadeja's bowled all morning.

OVER 18: ENG 35/2 Trott 21* Pietersen 9* Pietersen plays out a maiden. Meanwhile, Swann's playing the fool on the England balcony. He looks like he's doing an impression of someone. Cook pretends to look amused.

OVER 17: ENG 35/2 Trott 21* Pietersen 9* Ahhh, that's a lovely shot from Trott, coming down the pitch and wafting it back past Jadeja, through mid-on for four. Jadeja doesn't look all that to me. Not much flight, not much turn. It's like he's miming being a left-arm spinner. That'll get you a stack of wickets in the IPL, but I'm not convinced he's going to run through England this morning.

OVER 16: ENG 31/2 Trott 17* Pietersen 9* India are rather excitably appealing for everything here, as if someone replaced the water in their drinks bottles with liquid Haribo. First an appeal off the front foot as Pietersen defends perfectly safely - with his bat. Then Pietersen comes down the pitch and kicks it away again, and there's a huge appeal for that. India have already had one dodgy leg before this morning, and they're on the hunt for another.

OVER 15: ENG 31/2 Trott 17* Pietersen 9* What Cook and Compton found out the hard way, and what Trott is gradually learning, is that you have to play positively on a surface like this. It's cracked like broken biscuit, so at any moment there could be a ball with your name on it. But if you can get yourself in quickly, you can minimise the chances of one of those balls getting you early. Trott tries to flick to leg, misses, and there's a stifled LBW appeal.

DRINKS

OVER 14: ENG 31/2 Trott 17* Pietersen 9* Trott looks to have settled better than anyone so far. He gets down on one knee and paddles Ojha around the corner for another four. He looks for the quick single to finish the over, and almost gets Pietersen in trouble as Jadeja fires the throw into Dhoni. Pietersen was home by a couple of feet, although a direct hit would have finished him. Trott, meanwhile, runs straight into Ojha and the pair end up in an awkward embrace in front of a nonplussed Rod Tucker. Drink time, drink time.

OVER 13: ENG 26/2 Trott 12* Pietersen 9* If you believe the hype, then KP has haunting visions of situations like this. Fearful apparitions of an ICC general meeting at which it is decided that all types of bowling other than left-arm spin are forthwith to be banned from the game. KP wakes up with a start, sits up, takes a swig of the family-sized can of Red Bull on his bedside table and returns to his dreams. Anyway, that's a lovely aggressive flick off his pads for three, and then after Trott gets a single, Pietersen takes a couple of steps down and belts it back over Jadeja's head, beautifully straight, for four.

OVER 12: ENG 18/2 Trott 11* Pietersen 2* There's a loud shout for LBW against Pietersen, and an interesting one too. Essentially, Pietersen decided to pad away a straight ball, but did so by charging several yards down the pitch. It's certainly a novel approach, and umpire Rod Tucker thinks better of giving it out. Pietersen takes another single. Now, Ravindra Jadeja's going to bowl at the other end, giving Pietersen the Escherian nightmare of having to face left-arm spin at both ends.

OVER 11: ENG 17/2 Trott 11* Pietersen 1* Short - very short - from Sharma, and Pietersen makes to sway out of the way before realising the ball's only going to bounce about as high as his thigh, and fending it off. He gets off the mark when Sharma bowls him another bouncer and Pietersen can swivel it away for a single. He almost swept that. There's a sort of nefarious genius to this pitch. It's like a child's playmat, a delightfully anti-cricket surface. Apparently it's at its best to bat on during days two and three, so this might end up not being a bad toss for India to lose.

WICKET! Cook lbw b Sharma 1 (28) ENG 16/2 Sawn off! The Greatest English Batsman To Ever Draw Breath gets a dodgy banana from Sharma and a dodgy decision from umpire Dharmasena, and suddenly England are in all sorts of trouble! It was nicely bowled by Sharma, pitching it on a length and bringing it back in a fraction. Cook got a decent stride in, but the ball hit his pad well before it hit his bat. The question was whether it was coming back enough to clip off-stump. I'm not entirely sure it was.

OVER 10: ENG 16/1 Cook 1* Trott 11* Swept fine by Trott, beating the man at short fine leg and running away for four. He looks in good touch. Cook, meanwhile, looks to be having one of those Geoffrey Boycott hours. Just one run in the first 45 minutes.

OVER 9: ENG 12/1 Cook 1* Trott 7* Trott trapped in front! This must be close! Umpire Dharmasena shakes his head! Gosh, Trott's escaped there. It was a vicious swinging delivery, spearing late into Trott's pads, and well pitched up. In fact, Trott was so utterly flummoxed by that ball that he took his bottom hand off the bat and was just about ready to walk off. Instead, Dharmasena reckoned the contact was just outside off-stump, and remarkably Hawkeye bears him out. That's a fabulous umpiring decision, because that looked as plumb as plum pie. England really struggling with the slowness and lowness of the pitch so far. If the rest of the England batting order are by any chance reading this blog, here's how you play at Nagpur.

OVER 8: ENG 9/1 Cook 1* Trott 5* Interesting little tussle this, between Cook and Ojha. Ojha's spearing it in at Cook's leg-stump with a strong inner ring to cut off his singles. Cook's countering by stepping well across his stumps. A leg slip comes in. Cook can't get the ball away. Maiden.

OVER 7: ENG 9/1 Cook 1* Trott 5* Half-volley from Sharma - the first really bad ball he's bowled all morning - and the first really good shot we've seen from Trott, creaming it down the ground, in between bowler and mid-on, for four.

OVER 6: ENG 5/1 Cook 1* Trott 1* Cook's finally off the mark, getting down on one knee and spanking Ojha over cow corner... all right, he turns it off his legs for one. Trott then gets another single down to mid-on, where Chawla is, I fancy, standing a couple of yards too deep.

OVER 5: ENG 3/1 Cook 0* Trott 0* The rest of that over shows just how unusual that dismissal was. Sharma tests Trott with some more short stuff, but most of it barely gets above waist height, and the ones that do, bounce well in front of Dhoni. The ball that got Compton out just reared up on him a fraction.

WICKET! Compton c Dhoni b Sharma 3 (12) ENG 3/1 Ohhh, Compton will be going nuts about that! It was the first ball that bounced all day, and Sharma really had to bang that in to get any sort of elevation on it. Like Jamie Cullum, it was short and harmless, but for some reason Compton went on the back foot and tried to defend it. The ball just feathered the edge; Dhoni was able to grab it just before it died on him. That's a real choke for India, and you sense Compton's diary might have a few angry scrawls in it tonight.

OVER 4: ENG 3/0 Cook 0* Compton 3* Compton watchfully blocks out the over before pushing the last ball to mid-off and setting enough for another scampered single. Ashwin throws at the stumps. He misses, but Compton was home.

Here's Scyld Berry on why the ground at Nagpur will be so empty:

As with all out-of-town stadiums, like the ones outside Southampton and Chester-le-Street, it is designed for middle-class car-owners. Secondly, the ticketing. You can book a season ticket online, for a whole Test match. But if you want to turn up on the day? I tried to buy some tickets for a day of the second Test in Mumbai. Impossible, unless you combine the patience of a swami and the physique of a rugby international. It would be far too simple to turn up at an Indian Test ground, buy a ticket and push through a turnstile. The ticketing has been outsourced by the BCCI, and the system requires you to go somewhere separate from the ground, outside the security cordon, before you start.

OVER 3: ENG 2/0 Cook 0* Compton 2* Compton gets a thickish inside edge through square leg for another single. Cook tries to turn a couple into the leg side, but there's a tight ring of three on that side of the wicket, cutting off Cook's favourite scoring area.

OVER 2: ENG 1/0 Cook 0* Compton 1* Compton wants his first single, and he comes down the pitch to push the ball to mid-on, and screams Cook through for a run. A startled Cook is a touch slow off the mark, and if Chawla had thrown to Dhoni's end he might have struggled. As it is, Compton's well home.

<noframe>Twitter: Nick Hoult - Real shame there will be such a small crowd for an important test. The new VCA Stadium is a long way from Nagpur city centre</noframe>

OVER 1: ENG 0/0 Cook 0* Compton 0* This is it for England. Bat, bat and bat. Make 500 and win the series. It would be 2007 in reverse, when India needed a draw to win the series and ended up batting for two days to make 664. And the early signs are that this was a crucial toss to win. There's no pace or bounce in the surface at all. By the end of day five we may as well be playing on your nan's carpet. Sharma starts with a maiden to Cook, nearly all of which he can leave. There's a delay before the start of the second over as a couple of groundstaff chuck some sawdust down on the bowling crease. Pragyan Ojha's going to share the new ball.

03.59 Off we go, then. Sharma to bowl to Cook. Two slips and a gully in place. The ground, shamefully, is almost empty.

03.58 Here's an email from Peter Rowntree:

Good decision by England to pick Joe Root, his record shows he is probably as talented as Ali Cook at the same age. Interesting to read the Indian press over the last few days and their reaction to the struggles of their national side, a lot of emotive comment but reasoned analysis too. Amongst this the interesting point about the ever-growing gap in standards between international and domestic cricket. Seems to be a worldwide issue: Michael Clarke having to carry Australia; the struggles we are having to bring players like Finn, Bairstow, Taylor, Patel, Bopara, etc to make the grade. Yet England need to do this: if we move ahead to 2015 many of our side will have retired or be nearing retirement. We have to get these young players through.

<noframe>Twitter: Derek Pringle - Root's introduction at this late stage interesting but need to blood him in case Compton doesn't work out as opener further down the line</noframe>

03.45 Oh, man. India really are going for it. Four spinners. Ravindra Jadeja, he of the two triple hundreds in a month, replaces Yuvraj, and is probably a better bet than him in all three facets of the game. The other change is leg-spinner Piyush Chawla, who makes his third Test appearance replacing Zaheer Khan.

03.34 "We're bringing in Joe Root," Cook tells Ravi Shastri. Shastri couldn't be less interested, and pushes him over to one side so he can talk to Dhoni.

03.33 ALASTAIR COOK HAS WON A TOSS! He'll probably get a duck now. England are, of course, batting.

03.30 Not to envelop you in bombast at a stage of the morning when you'd probably rather be enveloped in a large warm duvet, but this could be history in the making. England, lest you need reminding, need just a win or a draw in Nagpur to secure their first series win in India since 1984-85, a time before we knew about global warming or where the wreck of the Titanic was, a time before Eastenders or Live Aid or, I might add, me. (Tyers was around then, he could probably tell you more about it than I could.)

The big news - and if you don't like surprises, you may want to sit down and get yourself a mug of something warm before reading on - is that Joe Root is set to make his England debut today, in place of Samit Patel. That's a big surprise, especially given that Jonny Bairstow and Eoin Morgan are still hanging around twiddling their thumbs, but Root seriously impressed by making 166 for the Performance Squad in Mumbai a couple of weeks ago. Paul Collingwood has just presented him with his cap. If you're not familiar with him, Root opens the batting for Yorkshire and will be 22 later this month.

On the bowling front, it doesn't look like Steve Finn's going to make it. With Stuart Broad still out, that means Tim Bresnan is the likeliest replacement.

India, rather comically, have picked a squad of 15 for this Test, which hardly speaks of a selection panel that knows what its best team is. Indecision is the least of their problems, though. The last week has seen a deluge of stories about rifts within the squad, rifts outside the squad, rifts amongst the coaching staff and rifts inside the board. MS Dhoni has been so busy denying stories of rifts that he hasn't even had a chance to have his weekly rift with the groundsman.

The pitch? It's very dry, and very cracked. One can only assume, given that it's India, where it's hot and dry most of the time, that the pitch will only get drier and more cracked. Good for spin, but not bad for reverse swing either. There is a little grass on it, but it's really just for show, like a comedy moustache. Win the toss and bat, bat bat.